


Roundabout

by leiascully



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Driving, Flirting, Gen, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-23 12:18:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4876537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leiascully/pseuds/leiascully
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I just wondered if you know you're taking the long way."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Roundabout

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline: n/a  
> A/N: A snippet that never went anywhere.  
> Disclaimer: _The X-Files_ and all related characters are the property of Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and Fox Studios. No profit is made from this work and no infringement is intended.

Scully's face is hazy-dazy, drifty, dreamy, sunk deep in highway hypnosis after hours in the car today. I take her in every time I grab another sunflower seed. Sips of Scully, never enough to satisfy. Her hair slips down in strands over her cheek. Sisyphus had an easier task than Scully keeping her hair out of her face. It's taking a lot of sunflower seeds to keep my hands occupied and prevent me from brushing those loose locks away with the backs of my fingers. Slippery cool hair, warm pliable Scully skin: the best of both worlds. The last temptation of Fox Mulder, five foot two with eyes of blue that keep glancing at me. Her gaze snags my peripheral vision like a hangnail. 

"Mulder," she says, slow as honey, that amused lilt in her voice. The hiss of the a/c and the shush of the tires fill the space between us.

"Scully?" I say after a suitable pause.

"Nothing," she says, ducking her head. Her hair spills back down over her face, hiding her eyes. Sometimes in the autumn, her hair looks like the sunlight through the leaves, and a pang goes through me because I'll never experience the full spectrum of her. Sometimes, when the light is right, there's nothing about her that doesn't glow. 

"Scully," I say, to taste the crispness of her name. At least I can savor that. I reach for another sunflower seed. 

"Mmm?" She blinks into the side mirror, blue-eyed innocence.

"It's never nothing," I say, glancing at her. She looks back at me; I catch the flash of her eyes as I turn back to the road. It might take years of experience investigating ephemera to realize that's a smile, but I'm well-versed in Scully's microexpressions. "Curiosity killed the cat."

"Which one of us gets the satisfaction in this metaphor?" she asks.

"Both of us, if you can find the daily double." Shell out, seed in. My fingertips are gritty with salt.

"Two for one special?" She's crimping laughter into the corner of her mouth. 

"All for one and one for us and we are all together, Scully," I tell her. "Now dish."

"Nothing," she insists. "I just wondered if you know you're taking the long way."

"I've been taking the long way all my life," I toss back, and tilt the a/c vent to cool my face. It's hot in here for some reason. Can't possibly be two people trapped in a metal pod hurtling down the road. Can't possibly be the final meltdown of my shameful poker face. It used to work, but Scully's as versed in my face as I am in hers. 

"That can't be denied," she says. "But I meant to the motel."

"I'm exploring alternate possibilities," I say, slowing down to turn onto the state highway that will eventually probably bring us back to the comforts of our rented rooms: cheap polyester comforters and kitschy art. At least they tried. "Leave no stone unturned. All roads lead to the truth." 

"I see," she murmurs. 

I glance at her as I reach for another seed. "In a hurry to get back to the motel, Scully? Shawshank Redemption on back to back on TBS again?"

"No," she says. "No hurry at all, Mulder." She leans back and gazes into the trees alongside the road.


End file.
